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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Has anyone ever been bit by a black widow spider? Did you rush right to the doctor or hospital? Well, if you are Daniela Holmqvist, a 24-year old rookie golfer from Sweden, and you are in the middle of a qualifying round you just soldier on. During the round in Australia, Daniela was bit. It was a Black Widow. Everyone called for medics but they did not come. Knowing she might die or be damaged forever, Daniela took a tee and sliced open the wound and let the venom drain out. She then squeezed the rest of it out and finished off the rest of her round of golf. Yeah, I'm impressed.

....I mean, I'm impressed, I guess but this is a little overstated. An adult is very, very unlikely to suffer any real damage from a black widow bite. Nausea and cramps maybe. Not that it's anything to be sneezed at, but she wasn't exactly risking her life or permanent nerve damage or anything either.

Unless you're allergic, a black widow spider bite isn't dangerous, just annoying. My sister got bit by one when she was 9 and didn't tell anyone. The only reason we found out a few days later was because she had a little swelling (like a really big zit) and some puss at the site. And my dad was bit multiple times working on old cars.

That said, yuck, yuck, yuck! Only bug I'm afraid of. Anytime I see one, I poison it and then squash it until it's unrecognizable. Just to be sure.

Only around 20% of people bitten by a black widow spider (or redback as they are known in Australia) need medical treatment. Yes they can be deadly, but only 14 people in all of Australias history have died from the bite and modern antivenoms work really well. Heck this info is even on wikipedia, the main problem with spider bites is baterial infection, which can attack at alarming rate. I have seen a person go from being bitten to having huge red welts up their arm from bacterial infection within 15 minutes of being bitten. Cutting the skin was stupid as a lot of times the poison is on the skin and you can introduce it into your blood stream by cutting it open. The woman was a posturing idiot.

Does Wisconsin suck? You bet. Especially right now when I'm sick of coats, hats, boots, gloves, snow, sleet, ice, salt all over everything.... BUT: no black widow spiders, no brown recluse spiders, no rattlesnakes, no tarantulas, no scorpions. Yay!

@LottaColada You gotta snatch up the good ones fast. They don't last long in the picking que. I want the most badass team. One big reason I wouldn't want Norman Reedus. If he had skills like Daryl then we'd want him. Norman's idea is to go to the top floor of the Four Seasons & run around naked.

I may be wrong, but going by memory, Redback spiders aren't just Black Widows called by a different (Australian) name. They are similar, but still very different. Dangerous, but not quite as dangerous as Black Widows, as I understand it (although they are the most dangerous spider in Australia.) Also, while Black Widows aren't exactly something most of us see every day here in America, the Redback spiders are ALL FREAKING OVER Australia. They are as common in Australia as granddaddy long-legs are in the American South, as I understand it. This fact alone would make me not wanna visit Australia. Also, they have a really large breed of another kind of semi-harmless spider. Big, like bigger-than-a-tarantula big. And IT is common too. And likes to hide. And JUMP. I saw a spider program of a guy driving and he lowered his sun-visor and one of these ginormous spiders landed in his lap and started running around on him. Simply horrible...

okay i would have been too busy thrashing around screaming and peeing my pants because a spider got on me and bit me to do anything useful but...

WTF?!?!?!?

How do all these people call the medics at a big event (where there are usually one or two standing by just in case anyway) at a big swanky place with roads and such AND THEY DO NOT COME?!?!? How is no one talking about this?

Oh la di da, someone could be having a serious medical emergency, but I'm going to have a vegimite burger instead. What if some old fart watching some hot chick go Rambo on a spider bite had a heart attack from all of her awesomeness? Oh well, too bad for you grandpa.

Hi, Aussie here. I hate spiders, live in the worst country for them. A red back spider is really dangerous, you can die from a bite. The red back is what bit her. You don't cut open spider wounds, you stay still and do compression bandaging up & down the affected limb. She is an idiot. A much deadlier spider is the funnelweb. They often hide in shoes & come inside houses during mating season because it is sheltered (I have the heebies just writing this). May explain why so many people wear thongs in Australia during summer. The spiders that hide in your car and appear under your visor when you pull it down, they are huntsman spiders, not poisonous but big hairy disgusting & love to come inside the house as well. I fucking hate spiders.

I retract the she is stupid part of my comment. Don't normally get snarky, more frustrated that she could have accidentally killed herself. Glad that peple have learnt something that can save their lives. The staying still & compression is to slow the spread of the poison through your blood stream. Jelly fish stings you rinse with warm water to take the sting away (they used to say vinegar but have found warm water to be more effective). If you don't have warm water, pee on the reason. Urine is warm & sterile.

Spider bites require compression. Some require anti-venom. Can I just point out nobody has died from a redback bite since the 1950's? She should have compressed and been taken to hospital for anti-venom treatment. What she did was needlessly risky and dramatically increases the likelihood of infection.

FYI, black widow spiders are NOT the same as redbacks. They are from the same genus (Latrodectus) but black widows are unique to North America.

Interesting FACTOID : Black widows can live up to 7 years. We have them at BLANC Debris Manor but leave them be. They are typically solitary amd non-agressive. You can tell their webs by how "crackly " they sound. Not aas afraid of spiders as I usex to be but not eager to see the huntsman.

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